Support Student Artists and Creativity

Support Student Artists!Fund their education in the visual or performing arts. Purchase a piece of their artwork. Attend one of their performances. Take them to a gallery or a show. We encourage you to help them explore their creativity, their talent, and their interest in the arts.

There is so much literature out there about the importance of creativity. Not just in the arts, but in society in general. Information which correlates student involvement in the arts with greater academic success and “the development of cognitive, social, and personal competencies” may be found in the landmark studies, Champions of Change and Gaining The Arts Advantage: More Lessons From School Districts that Value Arts Education, which may be found at AEP-ARTS. And you’ll find data that correlates higher SAT scores with students who are involved in the arts at Americans For The Arts.

In his April, 2010 comments at the Arts Education Partnership’s Opening Plenary (then) Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s remarks on “The Well-Rounded Curriculum” included, “The fact is that most students who take the arts are not going to be professional musicians, painters, dancers, or actors. Yet every student who plays in a band, acts in a play, dances in a company, or sings in the chorus can benefit from the experience in amazing ways.

Through the arts, students can learn teamwork and practice collaborative learning with their peers. They develop skills and judgment they didn’t know they had–whether it is drumming in time or acquiring the knowledge to differentiate between Pavarotti and the tenor in the choir loft at the Sunday service.

High-quality arts and humanities instruction are almost uniquely suited to stimulate imagination, creativity, and the ability to find adaptive solutions. Creativity, as Sandra Ruppert, AEP’s Director notes, is a “precursor to innovation and the cornerstone of entrepreneurship.”

Put another way, knowledge–without imagination–is not good enough for students in today’s fluid job market. “Imagination is more important than knowledge,” Albert Einstein once reminded us, because “knowledge is limited whereas imagination embraces the entire world.”

The SCAC has collected some information about Arts and Educationand how creativity is valued in our society that you might find of interest.